HONOLULU—Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin has become the latest to join a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Hawaii and 17 other states in English v. Mulvaney, a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s decision to appoint Mick Mulvaney as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
As CUToday.info reported, a vacancy was created at the CFPB when Director Richard Cordray resigned; Cordray had elevated Leandra English to deputy director with the assumption she would then take the top spot. English has filed a lawsuit and appeal of her own arguing the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB, is clear in how succession should work at the CFPB. The Trump Administration disagreed, citing the Federal Vacancies Reform Act for the authority to appoint Mulvaney.
The brief, led by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine, argues that maintaining CFPB’s independence is crucial to protecting consumers, and that Congress ensured this independence by creating a specific plan for succession, Maui Now reported.
“The CFPB has been a crucial partner in protecting consumers in the District and elsewhere, and we won’t stand by and watch it become just another arm of an administration that has demonstrated far more affinity for corporate interests than everyday consumers,” stated Racine, according to Maui Now. “We believe the law and justice are on our side.”
Also, as CUToday.info reported here, the $55-million Lower East Side People’s FCU in New York has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to stop Trump’s appointment of Mulvaney to head the CFPB.